The Worst Day Since Yesterday
by emmylouuwho
Summary: series "Black Donnellys," except the Donnelly brothers have a sister, Maggie.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: the prologue is written from Maggie's POV, but the rest of the story is 3rd person. I don't own "the Black Donnellys" or anything else but a love for the show and too many pairs of shoes.**

All through history, people have accused the Black Irish of every crime that came along. They were supposed to have gypsy blood, or Spanish, or something. But my grandmother told me that before the Celts even showed up in Ireland, there was a race of dark-haired people, who the Celts then proceeded to wipe out. But they could never get them all...

All the trouble started with Louie Downtown. But first things first. There were five of us Donnellys - Jimmy, Tommy, Kevin, Sean, and me.

Jimmy was the oldest, and to understand him, you had to know two things. The first thing happened one summer when we were kids. Jimmy and Joey Ice Cream had just stolen a five-gallon tub of ice cream, and then had it stolen from them. Joey was sitting in the middle of road, yelling at the other kids. "Hey! That's mine! I stole that!" Jimmy was sitting on the curb, laughing at him. No one even saw the car coming. It was headed straight for Joey, but they swerved at the last minute and drove right up to the curb. One of Jimmy's legs just shattered, and it never grew much after that. It never seemed to slow him down though; it was like he barely noticed. The second thing you had to know to really understand my brother happened the day our father was killed. Dad worked for the steel workers' union, which was run by the Irish, but the Italians were looking to change that. One day Jimmy was in the car outside a coffee shop, and two men came looking for Dad. It wasn't Jimmy's fault, he didn't know that while he was outside listening to music, they were inside beating our father to death. He never saw their faces, before or after, but he did know one thing - that they were Italian - and Jimmy hated the Italians from that day on.

Tommy was the second oldest, and there were only two things in the world he loved more than his family - drawing and Jenny Reilly. Ever since we were kids, Jenny had been driving Tommy crazy. And even though Jimmy was the oldest, Tommy was the one who kept all of us out of trouble. He was never the same after Jimmy's accident, like he thought it was his fault. Tommy kept to the straight and narrow after that. He graduated high school, and got into art school, the first member of the family to go to college. But he couldn't ever truly escape the neighborhood, because he kept having to get one of us out of trouble.

Kevin and I were twins. He was born three minutes before me, and never let me forget it. And Kevin, well, he thought of himself as a gambler. He always believed he was lucky, and the fact that he had never won a bet in his life somehow never dissuaded him of this notion.

I was the only girl, named Margaret after my grandmother. I took after my mother, with red hair and a temper to match.

Sean was the youngest, the baby of the family. Everyone loved him, especially women. That was why none of my brothers ever let their girlfriends anywhere near him, and I had to listen to every friend I brought home swoon about him. Between the charm and the baby face, almost every girl he met was hooked within fifteen minutes.

Now, growing up with four brothers gave new meaning to the phrase "raised by wolves." My parents didn't seem to know what to do with a girl, so they just raised me as one of the boys. Whenever anyone in the neighborhood mentioned "the Donnelly boys," everyone knew that they meant the five of us - Jimmy, Tommy, Kevin, Maggie, and Sean. The boys didn't dare leave me behind, knowing I would raise hell if they tried, which always earned one of them a smack on the head from Ma. "Why shouldn't you take Maggie along? Now get outta here. Go play outside. And look after Seannie!" She would yell down the hall before shutting the apartment door on us.


	2. Chapter 1

It all started with a wake. Jimmy had won a bar, the Firecracker Lounge, in a crap game with Donny Mackew the year before. It came with rotting floors and a gigantic tax lean, but Donny swore he didn't lose on purpose. That day Maggie was helping Jimmy behind the bar. She'd just told Joey Ice Cream to go screw himself after he'd made a pass at her for the millionth time, and rolled her eyes as she saw him heading over to try his luck with Jenny Reilly. A couple years before, Jenny married a schoolteacher, but he forgot to mention that he robbed drug dealers to pay for his student loans. Teach went into hiding, and somebody stuffed him in an oil drum. But nobody had the heart to tell Jenny.

Maggie was looking under the bar for another bottle of scotch when she heard Kevin's voice above her head. "Maggie! Did you tell Tommy about the money I owe?" _Whoops_.

"Maybe," she said, half hiding under the bar now.

"Dammit, Mag!"

She stood up straight and gave him a withering look. "Look, I didn't want you to get you legs broken with a baseball bat, Ok?"

Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Relax," she continued. "I told him you only owe two thousand, alright?" Maggie handed him two more pints, which he gladly accepted, and grudgingly went back to talk to Tommy, who was looking more and more frustrated.

Frankie, a friend of Maggie's parents, who just happened to be a cop, showed up a few minutes later with his partner. He went straight over to Tommy, and, from the look on Tommy's face, Maggie could tell that one of her brothers had done something stupid. She tried to remember what each of her brothers had been doing on the day before, a frown growing between her brows. Frankie and his partner left, and Tommy yelled across the room for Jimmy. Jimmy was working behind the bar with Maggie, and Tommy came over, an angry look on his face.

"How's Frankie?" Jimmy asked.

"You robbin' trucks?" Tommy hissed, leaning over the bar.

"What're you talkin' about?"

"Don't lie to me, Jimmy."

"What're you a cop now, Tommy?" Maggie asked, wiping her hands on a towel as she leaned against the bar next to Jimmy.

"Not helping, Maggie," he replied, still looking at Jimmy.

She held up her hands in mock surrender and went to serve a couple at the other end of the bar. As she turned to pull them two pints, Maggie heard Jimmy arguing with a middle aged man sitting at the bar in front of him. She heard the sound of a fist connecting with a jaw, and looked over to see Jimmy climbing over the bar to hit the man a second time. She immediately headed back toward the pool tables, her back to the wall. It's impossible to grow up with four brothers, especially four Irish brothers, without knowing how to hold your own in a fight. She kept her eyes on her brothers, her right hand reaching for a pool cue hanging on the wall, making sure none of them needed her help._ They seem to be doing alright though_, she thought as Sean hit someone with one of the bar stools_._ She had just picked up a cue when someone grabbed her left wrist. Maggie turned, dropping the pool cue, her right hand already clenching into a fist, but it was her twin brother Kevin. He pulled her through the back door, the other brothers a few steps ahead. The five Donnellys poured out of the back door into the alley, and saw a large white truck.

"What's this?" Tommy asked Jimmy. "The truck you didn't steal?"

Kevin, Maggie, and Sean ignored the two of them and piled into the truck's cab. Tommy was the only one with a license, so, once he saw the police car blocking the alley, he jumped into the driver's seat after Jimmy. Jimmy held up a truly hideous Hawaiian shirt to Tommy.

"Hey Tommy, you like this shirt?"

"Did you just ask me if I like that shirt?" Tommy said in a disgusted voice, looking at Jimmy incredulously.

"Yeah, cause I got a couple thousand more in the back." Jimmy proceeded to pull the shirt over the one he was already wearing, while Tommy started the engine.

"Hey! Hey, you wanna move?" Tommy shouted. There were times when Tommy surprised his own siblings with his nerve. The police cruiser drove off, and they all looked at each other a moment before bursting out laughing.

* * *

Jimmy's plan to sell the stolen Hawaiian shirts fell through when they discovered someone had stolen them out of the truck.

"So, anybody got any idea how to get four thousand dollars?" Kevin asked as they walked away from the empty truck.

"You hear what Bobby O. and JJ McGrain did? They stole an Italian. Held him for ransom."

"Sean," Maggie said. "You are such a dumbass."

"Shut up, Maggie!" he spat back at her.

"What? It's a stupid idea!"

"And where are Bobby O. and JJ right now?" Tommy asked over his younger siblings' bickering.

"I don't know," Sean said after a moment. "Attica, I think."

"Exactly," Tommy said, and, turning at the corner, started to walk away from his siblings. "See you later."

* * *

No one had any ideas an hour later, so Kevin had to go tell Louie Downtown, who ran the book for Sal Minetta, the head of the Italian mob, that he needed more time paying back the money. Sean and Jimmy went with him, and Maggie went home to change for work.

She worked at as a waitress in a diner a few blocks from the Firecracker, and she had time before her shift, so she decided to stop there and see what had happened with the boys. Maggie arrived just as Tommy rode up with a blonde girl in a convertible, looking pissed. Sean was standing outside the bar, looking nervous.

"Where's Louie?" Tommy demanded.

"Louie who?" Sean asked, trying to look innocent.

"Stop lying," Tommy snapped. "And keep an eye on her." He pointed to the blonde before disappearing into the Firecracker. Maggie followed him inside, looking curiously at Sean, but he was already eyeing the girl in the convertible.

Inside the bar, Joey Ice Cream was rooting around in the till behind the bar.

"Where's Kevin?" Tommy asked.

"I didn't take anything," Joey said quickly, looking guilty.

"How much did you steal?" Tommy asked, while Maggie walked toward the basement stairs.

"Nothing! Not a nickel."

"Yeah? Get outta here."

"You got it, champ," Joey replied, practically running for the door.

Maggie reached the stairs just as Kevin started to climb up them. "Hey Kev."

"Hey... Aw man." The second he looked past his sister and saw Tommy, he started to go back down to the basement. Tommy pushed past Maggie and went down the stairs, and she followed him.

"Tommy, me and Jimmy went downtown with goodness in our hearts to work out a deal," Kevin tried to explain as Tommy looked around for Jimmy and Louie. "But Louie starts threatenin' me. I mean, what was I supposed to do?"

"What the hell is going on?" Maggie asked, exasperated, but they ignored her.

"Kevin, everybody knows who did this. You kidnap somebody, they're not supposed to know who it was. "

"Tommy, you think we're stupid? We wore masks."

"You went down there with goodness in your hearts, but you wore masks?" Tommy was turning on the sarcasm now. "Get outta the way."

Tommy opened the door to find Louie duct-taped to a chair, a sock stuffed in his mouth.

"Oh my God," Maggie said.

"What were we supposed to do, Maggie?" Kevin shrugged. _I swear I got all the brains when we were born,_ Maggie thought, shaking her head at her twin.

Tommy had already gone upstairs, and Kevin and Maggie followed, to find him looking through the drawers behind the bar.

"What're you doing?" Kevin asked.

"I'm getting a knife and cutting him loose," Tommy said simply. "Maggie, go to work. Anybody asks, you didn't see anything, you haven't seen us since the wake."

She started to protest, but, looking at her watch, saw she was running late already. She heaved a sigh and turned to leave, hearing Tommy resume his search for a knife.

"Tommy, I love you, but I'd rather fight you than Jimmy. He's banged outta his head," she heard Kevin say as she walked out the door.


	3. Chapter 2

As soon as Maggie's shift at the diner was over, she headed back over to the Firecracker. She met Tommy on the way there, and they walked in to find Jimmy asleep on the pool table, a lit cigarette in his hand and a bottle of whiskey stuck in one of the pockets. He was still wearing that hideous Hawaiian shirt. Maggie rolled her eyes.

"Jimmy," Maggie said, shaking his leg. "Jimmy! Wake up!"

"Hey, sis," he said bleary-eyed. "What time is it?"

"11:30," Tommy answered.

"Oh, gotta be at the drop at twelve," Jimmy replied as he slid off the pool table.

He headed straight for the bathroom. After a few minutes, he still hadn't come out, so Maggie knocked once on the door before pulling it open. "Jimmy, come-" Maggie stared at the sight of Jimmy with a needle in his arm.

"Get outta here, Mag," Jimmy said softly.

"Tommy!" Maggie called, not taking her eyes off the needle.

"What?" he asked, walking over. He pulled the door open farther, and, seeing the needle, yelled, "What're you doin'?" Tommy smacked the needle out of Jimmy's arm, and yanked him out of the bathroom.

"Are you crazy? I had that needle in my arm!" Jimmy's protests stopped short as Tommy's fist connected with his stomach. The two brothers immediately fell to the floor as they punched each other.

"Kevin! Sean!" Maggie called, and then tried to separate her older brothers. "Hey! Quit it! Tommy! Stop! Jimmy!"

Kevin's head appeared at the top of the stairs leading to the basement, and he looked over to see his older brothers on the floor, his sister standing over them, hands on her hips. Maggie looked over at him, and he gave her a questioning look. She shrugged, and Kevin sighed before coming over to help her break up the fight.

Kevin pulled his oldest brother off of Tommy, and Maggie quickly stepped between them, holding Tommy back with her hands on his upper arms.

"Get out," Tommy snarled, pointing at his brother over Maggie's head. "Get your money and get outta here. But you try to take either of them," he gestured at the twins, "or Sean with you, and I'm gonna kill you."

"You'll kill me?" Jimmy asked with an incredulous look. He snickered, then suddenly lunged for Tommy, but Kevin held him back.

Tommy shook off his sister's hands and said, "You in that much pain, Jimmy, why don't you just jump off a roof?" He turned without another word and stormed out.

* * *

Maggie and Kevin stayed at the Firecracker, while Jimmy took Joey Ice Cream to the money drop with him. Tommy returned a short time later, and pulled himself a beer, without speaking to his siblings. Maggie and Kevin knew better than to try and talk to him just then, and went back to their game of Black Jack.

"Ha! I win again," Maggie cried. "Pay up!"

"How much'd you lose?" Tommy asked quietly.

"Ten bucks and a week of dishes," Maggie declared happily, while Kevin pulled two fives out of his wallet.

The three of them heard yelling out in the street, but paid no attention until Tommy said, "That's Kim."

"Who?" Maggie asked, but Tommy was already running out the door, and she and Kevin followed.

A block away, lying on the corner in a pool of blood, was their baby brother, Tommy's friend Kim crying over him, her nose bloody. They sprinted toward Sean, Tommy screaming for someone to call an ambulance. Maggie fell to her knees next to her brother, drawing his head onto her lap, sobbing.

"Seannie! Seannie! Sean! Seannie!"

Maggie looked up to see her oldest brother standing a few yards away, just staring,. She was the only one who saw him, the only one who saw the pain and guilt in his eyes before he turned abruptly and jogged across the street, toward the Firecracker.


	4. Chapter 3

A few hours after they had found Sean, Maggie and Kevin walked out of the waiting room and down the hall toward their older brother, Tommy, who was staring out the window at the street below. Kevin was eating the last of a ham sandwich Jenny Reilly had brought with her from her father's restaurant.

"It's rainin' again," Tommy commented absently. "Jimmy got pinched for the truck thing." He pointed out the window where they just saw a police car before it turned the corner and disappeared.

"But he just went down to get some beers," Kevin said, surprised.

"Yeah."

"That sucks," Kevin replied.

"I talked to Frankie," Tommy said, still looking out the window. "He said he'd get him into rehab."

"You talked to Frankie?" Kevin asked, sounding suspicious.

"Yeah, I talked to Frankie."

"So, that's not a bad thing," Maggie spoke for the first time, relieved that her oldest brother would be safe, and get the help he needed. She understood, even if Kevin didn't seem to, that Jimmy was in danger from the Italians.

"No, it's not," Tommy replied, picking up his coat and walking toward the elevator. "I'm gonna step out for a minute."

"Sure," Kevin said, looking out the window, while Maggie watched her brother walk toward the elevator, soon to be followed by Kevin.

"Where you goin'?" Tommy asked, surprised to see Kevin standing next to him.

"Wherever you are," Kevin replied succinctly.

Maggie came over to stand in front of them as they entered the elevator. "Be careful," she said, looking each of them in the eye, then heading back to the waiting room. She had an idea where they were about to go, but was afraid to know for sure. She passed Jenny in the hall, and paused at the waiting room door, watching her stop the elevator doors.

"Hey, I'm making you a sandwich," Jenny said to Tommy.

"Well, save it for me," he replied quietly.

"Tommy. Listen to me. You are not your brother," Jenny said, looking angry. "Stay and eat your sandwich. Please." She said the "please" so quietly that Maggie almost missed it.

Maggie heard Tommy say, "I'll be back for it." Then the elevator doors closed. Maggie turned away, and heard Jenny bang her hand on the door as she walked into the waiting room and sat next to her mother.


End file.
